Dr Vimal Babu, Associate Professor, in collaboration with Syeda Hafsah, PhD Scholar, Department of Management, Paari School of Business (PSB) and Dr Juman Iqbal, Assistant Professor at IIM Vishakhapatnam, has authored the research paper titled “The Flexibility Paradox: Co-Creating Flexible Work Arrangements Amid Socio-Cultural, Structural, and Equity Tensions,” published in Personnel Review (in-print, 2026).

Flexible work arrangements are often promoted as a solution for improving work–life balance, especially for working parents. However, this research reveals that flexibility in Indian IT organisations is not merely a formal policy but a socially negotiated practice shaped by organisational culture, managerial discretion, and deeply embedded socio-cultural norms. Drawing on in-depth qualitative interviews with working parents, the study uncovers a “flexibility paradox” where flexibility simultaneously enables work–family balance while generating hidden stress, guilt, and inequalities particularly for new parents in dual-career households. By introducing the concept of “controlled flexibility,” the research offers a nuanced understanding of how flexibility operates as a conditional and emotionally demanding arrangement in collectivist workplaces.

A brief abstract of research:

The research paper discusses how working parents in Indian urban information technology sector navigate, negotiate and find flexibility in the workplace and, at the same time, manage childcare responsibilities. Based on the qualitative interviews with 36 employees, the study indicates that flexibility is not only a formal HR practice, but a co-constructed practice that depends on the organisational culture, on the arbitration of the managers, on socio-cultural norms, and on emotional processes. The results reveal a flexibility paradox, in which flexible work helps employees and poses unseen stress, guilt, and inequalities especially to new parents in two-career families. The paper proposes the concept of “controlled flexibility”, describing the functioning of flexibility as a negotiated and conditional agreement in the collectivist workplace.

Real World Application / Social Implications:

• Organisations ought to realise that flexible work arrangement is socially negotiated and not just available.
• Managers are to be trained to be less biased, mistrustful, and stigmatising when granting flexibility requests.
• HR policies ought to be categorically favourable to working parents and normalise flexibility between classes of employees.
• The research paper emphasises that clear, fair flexibility systems should be established that limit emotional demand and concealed injustices.
• These insights can be utilised by policymakers and organisations to establish inclusive and well workplaces that are family-friendly.

Collaborations:

This research is a collaborative scholarly effort involving researchers from SRM University–AP and the Indian Institute of Management Vishakhapatnam.
The study was conducted as part of doctoral research by Syeda Hafsah, PhD Scholar, Department of Management, SRM University–AP, under the academic mentorship of Dr Vimal Babu, Associate Professor, SRM University–AP.

The research also benefited from intellectual contributions and collaboration with Dr Juman Iqbal, Assistant Professor at the Indian Institute of Management Vishakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, who serves as the co-guide for Hafsa Syeda in her PhD work. Previously, she served as a faculty member at SRM University–AP.
Additionally, valuable insights were drawn from professionals and HR practitioners working in India’s Information Technology sector.

Future research plan:

• Also expand the research to other fields other than Information Technology.
• Comparative studies between Global South and Global North.
• Conduct longitudinal designs in how flexible work has long-term career and wellbeing outcomes.
• Get to know the impacts of digitalisation and new technologies on flexibility, autonomy, and employee identity.